More than one in 10 British families has gone without medicine or food because they did not have enough money, according to a new report.

New research from children’s charity NCH and Barclays found 11 per cent of households have at some point been too poor to buy over-the-counter drugs.

One in ten families has had to go without food. The report’s compilers are calling for more to be done to help people on low incomes get to grips with their finances.

A survey of more than 1,000 adults found that only 56 per cent of people earning less than £15,000 a year understand basic financial terminology such as what an APR is, compared to 82 per cent of those with a £45,000-plus salary.

An NCH spokeswoman said: ‘Some people who get turned down for loans then turn to loan sharks and don’t realise that 177 per cent APR is an extraordinarily high amount. We need to give people that understanding so they don’t fall into that trap.’

The report says such poor financial knowledge can have a ‘devastating’ impact on household budgets.

The survey revealed that people on the lowest incomes are four times more likely to have gone without medicine than those on higher incomes.

They are also six times more likely to have gone without food at some point.

Peter Verity, NCH project worker, said: ‘I met one young London mum recently who in order to pay for a PE uniform for her daughter, couldn’t buy any more food for the week, so had to rely on cheap frozen meals to feed her two children and miss out on meals herself.’

According to the Department for Work and Pensions, the lowest a single person is expected to live on a week, after housing costs and tax have been deducted, is £108, while for a family of two adults living with two children it is £301. For a single parent with two children it is £223.